Florida Keys WeeklyFlorida Keys History: Setting the Record Straight
Brad Bertelli lives in the past, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Widely considered one of the resident history buffs in the Florida Keys, Bertelli joins our podcast to discuss the origins and tales that make the Florida Keys so wildly unique. From Native American encounters and Spanish treasure seekers to American presidents and pirates, Bertelli offers his captivating brand of storytelling to the rich history of the Keys. So join us for a blast into the past with Brad Bertelli, a regular contributor to the Key Weekly Newspapers and one of the few people to (perhaps) ever encounter the elusive Florida Keys Skunk Ape.
Welcome back to another edition of the Florida Keys Weekly podcast and show. I'm your host, Brett Myers again and joining me today is a co-host and my editor at the Key West Weekly newspapers here in our studios in Key West Florida. The one and only Mandy Miles. Thank you. Happy to be here. We're happy to have you before we get to that. I want to thank our friends that are listening to this podcast in Radio Land
that's at WKW FA M-16 100 our friends at FM 103.3 you early risers. Thanks for getting up and being a part of this and of course, all the podcast platforms, Amazon
Apple and over at Keys weekly dot com. You can find this podcast and all the podcasts we have back in that queue and enjoy those. I hope uh and listen there at Keys weekly dot com. This podcast is brought to you by our friends at OMG, that's overseas media group. That's the folks who do all the local websites, social media
ceo uh any of your digital needs that you have out there for your business. You've probably seen them and don't even know it on tons and tons of websites all around the keys. The great looking ones, of course, uh they have the world of expertise that you need with the local service that you should expect. That's overseas media group at overseas media group dot com. So thank you to them as well. And, uh Mandy,
I'm excited about the guest today. We're gonna bring him in just momentarily. Um, we've talked about this, you, uh, and our other, uh, fellow editors in marathon and upper keys, Jim and Alex each have kind of a handful of contributors. Maybe more than a handful that bring a lot of different variety to the Keys weekly newspapers, all three different papers.
Some of those contributors contribute keys wide and come out keys wide. Some of those contribute specific to market. The one we have today is a keys wide contributor. We have folks that do this like Mark, who does birds, we talked about him before people seem to love birds. I hate birds and Mark knows that, but I love his column and Mark and people love Mark. It's a, it's a strange thing.
We love Mark, but, uh, he's, he's our bird guy. We have people like cricket, Demaris who does profiles on people. It's fantastic. Yes, that's a great column. Someone you should meet. It's called. That's right. And we have sports contributors, but this specific contributor, uh you know, in just in line with those contributors just incredible. We have calls about him all the time. How do we get in touch with him? I have questions for him. Um, I'm sure he loves us for forwarding all those emails to him. I only forward the ones about their, uh,
uh, the, the renewal for his car, his car warranty. Yeah, that kind of stuff. So that, that's the ones I follow. But no, there's lots of people literally who call up and say, hey, and I'll talk about that. I have one specific story of somebody just a couple of days ago who called up and said, can I give him a call? They did? It was a pretty cool story. Uh, and it all has to do with history. So if you don't know who we're talking about yet, that is the one and only Brad Betel. He is, he is a very well known, he's historian down here. He's an honorary co, he's an author, historian, his speaker.
Uh, he's been a server. He still bartends some over at Robby's Marina, I think. And you can catch him there a couple of days a week and chat history while he's behind the bar. I'm sure he'll chat some history with you. And, uh, he's had a scholarship to the University of Miami. I can hear him out there. Yeah. Uh, he's, he's done all kinds of things and we'll talk more about that with him. He's written some books that we'll talk about as well.
And, uh, the, the cool thing about it is he's not boring, you know, never boring, ever. I mean, I look forward to reading his pieces in my, in my paper every single week and,
and as an editor they're always there on time and they're cleanly written. So it makes my job much easier if you check him out on Facebook, you know, it's Brad Perelli. He's, he'll do lectures when I think of history lectures. I go back to my college days and, and I probably wasn't listening, like I should have been, but a lot of those professors could make history. Not so exciting. I see, Brad. He's like one of those like Silicon Valley guys with the headphones and a red Bull. He's like, he's right. People are into it. I'm like, man, I would have learned more history if that dude was teaching,
but he really is exciting. He's like, he just, you can tell he loves it. He loves it and he's so knowledgeable and there's not a topic that he won't cover from pirates to mosquitoes to the Queen conch population, to the sea turtle industry and pot busts in, in the 19 eighties. I mean, he's just, he's not like a
11 trick pony when it comes to a certain, certain pigeonholed category of history, whether it's ship wrecks or the, or the railroad or things like that. Yeah. And we've talked about this, the, the Florida Keys and we talked about relative to Europe in general, the US and relative to, to other areas of the, of the world, the globe.
Uh Short history, uh not including our native American history, but the keys in general to a shorter history, but a very rich history. When you go back and talk about those pirates and native Americans and then to the pirates in Spain and then other settlers and railroads and
the civil war, the wildlife that's been here, the industries, the, the water based industries and then the transportation. It's, yeah, it's, it's an amazing history and some of the stories, some of the most unique stories you'll ever hear. And Brad's the kind of guy who has his finger on the pulse of all those really neat juicy stories in the Keys
and, uh, and there's plenty of those mysteries and murders and affairs, scandals and corruption and everything. Yeah. Kind of like the stuff you cover in the paper. Mandy. Exactly. It's just not historic yet. All right, we can get off on a tangent, but let's, let's do what we came for. Let's bring in the man himself, Mr Brad Burelli
and, uh, joining Mandy Miles myself, Brett Myers here on the Florida Keys Weekly podcast is Brad Perelli Brad. Great to have you on the show. Thanks for coming on, Brad.
Oh, I appreciate you guys having me on and, uh,
be able to share some of my story and some, some great local history stories and I'm looking forward to hearing about the phone call that you got a couple of days ago. So, uh, let's, let's dive in. Awesome. Sounds
great. Well, I'll, you know what, I'll start with that, um, because we're gonna talk about history, but to give people an example, Brad, I want to hear more about you and, and how this all began. But here's a cool story. So good friend of mine down here in Key West, Sam Holand, Sammy Holland.
He says, Brad, I need to reach out to Brad. Tel, you know, I read the paper, I read his columns and I said, sure. Uh Here's his number. I give this to all the uh auto uh renewal people. The robo calls, we get your number, Brad. Sorry about that.
That explains a lot. But go ahead.
No, but a serious note. I said, sure, I'll, I'll give you the number. So I reached back out to Sammy uh recently and I said, did you speak to Brad? He says, yeah, I spoke to him.
Uh I said, what did you guys talk about? He says, well, my, my seven time great grandfather was killed by native Americans Seminoles. His name was JC Walton. Uh He was killed uh by them in an ambush. He and his men at Carry's Fort Reef off of Key Largo. His family, Mr Walton was the lighthouse or the, and there was no lighthouses back then. It was the light ships. Uh, and his family was, and he was the keeper of that and his family was still on the ship and he was, uh, he led ashore with his men,
uh with some provisions. And at that time, the Native Americans had waited for him, kind of knew he was coming, ambushed him, of course, I guess, severed his fingers to make a point of some type scalps, all that type of stuff. And that was around 18 35. And uh, and Sammy still has a painting, the original painting that was done by David Harrison Wright hanging at his house. And uh but he, he said
that you had talked about that. So Brad and I guess, and he didn't elaborate much more other than the details of the story of what you guys talked about. But I know that'd be really cool for him knowing that was his seven time great grandfather to have a guy like you that has some of that history in place. And I think he reached out to you and spoke to you about that.
He did. And that was what was really cool about that story is that he was not the only descendant of Mr Walton, um who reached out to me, there was another member of the family. Yeah, which is what's really cool about, about what I get to do, um
you know, spreading all this history and talking about it. And as I learn about it is, it's so gratifying when these, you know, great, great, great, great great grandchildren, you know, reach out and say, hey, that was my, you know, my great great grandfather or whatever it's, and it helps to plug some holes and
I learned, they learn it. It's just an awesome, awesome experience.
That's amazing. That is, that would be neat to really put a real person and a real name and an existing person behind behind all these historical names that you, that you dig up. And when you talk about a story like that, that goes back to 18 35. And I know this is probably sort of a layman's question, but also one that historians get a lot. But how, how do you kind of get your hands on the truth or what, what seems to be the truth and the facts,
um to be able to put that together in a place like the Florida Keys? I mean, do you just, can you just go to the local library? Do you have to spend weeks of doing research and digging here and digging there that how many lies do you uncover about the, there's so much BS around the Florida Keys history. How do you figure
that out? Well, that's, let's start there. Most of my, most of my job is like, um, a lot of what I do is debunking the nonsense.
I like to refer them to grand grandpa's stories because my grandfather told me this and he wouldn't lie to me. So this is what I told my, my kids and they pass it on and this continues and continues and these remarkable tales get intertwined with the local history and it becomes, you know, a sort of fact. And, um,
I mean, you know, I, and I come in, you know, I've, I've been here 22 years but I'm still a newcomer and I get a lot of, you know, who are you to tell our, you know, our history and I'm the guy telling the truth. Yeah. But it's, you know, it's, it's, you know, I've been doing it for about 15 years and one of the really exciting pieces of my job, I mean, it's homework every day basically. But over, you know, all the years the stories you, you learn more and you learn more and the more you learn, the less, you know,
and the more you learn, the more you're able to put the pieces of the puzzle together. So something, something that I read 10 years ago would make a mode a modicum of sense and then something I would read today, it's like, oh, that's who that is. OK. That's why that happened. It, it just starts to become clearer and clearer. That makes sense it
in.
Yeah. Which is why I always like to say, you know, you can't really tell a Key West story or a key or an, or a marathon story. They're all sort of key stories because they're all interrelated somehow,
Brad. So we'll back up. We jumped right into that story, which I thought was extremely relevant to show people just how you get these calls and the types of things it can go anywhere from pirates to treasures, to
native Americans, to whatever it might be to drug smuggling and you get the calls and people want to know more. But how I think you came from California to the keys. You don't have to take us through your entire journey unless you want to. But was history always your thing that, you know, hey, at some point I'm going to be writing books and be kind of a, a historian. I'm pretty good at this. I'm, I'm a detective. I'm a, I guess you have to be a detective to be a historian. I'm good at this. I'm, I'm gonna find a place to do it. Or did you find the keys and then decide, hey, this is what I want to do.
Well, I was born in 1965. We'll start there.
No, I am. I've always wanted to be a writer since I was like 15 or 16. I knew I knew I was gonna write.
Um, and I wanted to, I wanted to, I told my mom this when I was like 14 or 15, I just want to live on an island, you know, 10 bar and, and write poetry back then. Um And uh she was horrified and not, not so, you know, cause she was like, go to school, get a job, you know, there, there are steps you need to take. And um so I came to South Florida in 89 and I was on Santa Captiva on the west coast
and I just wanted to uh to write. And my, um
and I came here to write, you know, I was a fiction writer and uh my career wasn't going where I wanted to be, you know, lots of rejection. And in those days it was all snail mail. So you waited, you know, two months or a year and a half to get that rejection letter and say, oh God, that's right
those days. And um I ended up going to the University of Miami and getting my uh my graduate degree and I got a Masters of fine Arts in creative writing. And I moved down to the, I moved down to plantation key in the upper keys on in 2001 with the intent of working on my thesis, which was uh you know, a novel called Wrestling Alligators.
And then I um kind of walked backwards into my first book deal, which was with the University of Presto Florida called Snorkeling Florida. And as I did research for the book, every dive captain and every, you know, every local, everybody had their different story about how this reef got its name and how that wreck happened
and I got curious and started doing my own research and, um, it kind of, you know, uh, the road for, I put my, you know, my, my fiction pen down and just started getting into the history
and just started writing nonfiction and exploring, exploring his local history and it just, um, you know, 15 years, you know, 15 years later here we are.
That's amazing. Have you tried to go back to fiction yet? Because I can't imagine that I can imagine that's gonna be a difficult transition after writing so much nonfiction and, and history columns and books.
Well, I hadn't, and then two years ago, 2.5, 2 or three years ago I wanted to just play with words again
and one of my favorite columns I ever wrote
this, um, was a, this was years and years ago, was a piece on a skunk ape sighting in Key Largo on Key Largo back in 1977. And, uh, and the skunk ape, for those of you who don't know is Florida's Bigfoot. And I wrote the column and it was tons of fun and it was well documented and the sighting lasted like two weeks and it was, got national attention
and, um, I wanted to play around a little bit and I just wanted to have fun with words again. So I wrote a book called the Florida Keys. Skunk Gate Files. That's been out just over two years now
and that's where I really just stretched my, um my creative, you know, mind and um I, I invented, you know, I, I based it on this one actual event and then I started throwing the skunk ape with Leon and John James Audubon Thomas. And I just made up all these files of how the skunk cap
um you know, altered the history or, or, or was included in the history of the Florida Keys. So it's kind of a, a marriage between there's actual great history about the Florida Keys in it. But there's also great storytelling with the skunk gate. And in a lot of ways, it's me telling history to a new audience who might not otherwise pick up a history book. There you
go. So you're sneaking in a little history lesson there, speaking in a
little history to the, to the Bigfoot crowd.
Yeah. And it's, uh, it's, it's been very interesting because, um even though the first sentence of the book says this is historical fiction, um the book has been featured in a documentary, I mean, people have, have plagiarized my, my sightings and called them real. So I really contributed to this, you know, fictional
stories of, of the skunk gate, but it was a ton of fun to write and I'm super proud of the book and it's, people love it, people hate it. You know, I love a big foot crowd by it and they get upset because it's not real, you know, because they haven't read the reviews or the back cover or, or the first sentence or
anything or any other book ever in their lives.
Yeah. But there's, there's actually a site, uh, where you buy the book but the, you can buy what shirts or there's stickers and the logo is really cool. By the way, I wouldn't mind a skunk, a sticker of yours. But, um, I, I see the t-shirts. That's all you, correct.
Yeah. Part of the book II, I made up, you know, it was 19, it's set in 1977. So there's a fair amount of, uh, of pot smoking in it.
And, um, I made up my own little group called the Southernmost Skunk Society which my two characters, my two characters formed. And, um,
and so I, you know, I made up like there's a, I have a Twitter account with that and there's a Facebook group with that and I, I made a t-shirts, a logo and t-shirts and it was just a whole lot of fun.
Now, you, you mentioned 77 I'm trademarking this now with you Brad. I've got a billion dollar idea. We've got all the dispensaries now and you got the skunk ape, we could have the skunk ape. Like some kind of, yeah, there you go with the logo. So,
yeah, there
are, there are a few strains, you know, called Skunky. Yeah.
I'm always, always 10 years behind. Like I got a great idea. It's called myspace. Yeah.
But um but that, that, that would be, uh that would anybody listening, who has, who wants to partner with a uh uh you know, uh a cool logo and a cool, in fact, here's a funny story.
My neighbor, two houses down who I hadn't met before. Um He actually got my logo tattooed on his back. No way.
Yeah. Not knowing you not having met you,
right. He, he, he knew the book but didn't know that, you know, I didn't know that he was there. He didn't know I was here. But um it's, it's the center, not the total logo but, but the center of graphic graphic with the palm trees and the colors on his back. It's pretty hysterical.
So, so if he like works for mosquito control and you have to, you have to repay the favor now, right? You can get like a mosquito on your back
or something like that. I'm
probably one of a handful of people in the Florida Keys who does not have a tattoo.
There you go. Hey, I like it. Um We got Brad Bruel on the Florida Keys Weekly Podcast here. We're talking about history and there's no better person to talk history with uh Brad. We've had one of your buddies on this show before. Speaking of no one better. This guy's right up there with you, David Sloan.
Um I wanted to ask you about another book, you wrote a local guide to Bloodline, 50 famous film locations. Uh Tell us about that one. I know you're an Amara guy. Uh Everyone loved the show back when it was out on Netflix. And uh I guess it kind of speaks for itself but 50 famous film locations. That's all Bloodline. Is that correct? And is that all around the upper keys?
One and two?
And just a throwback here to the skunk gate files. David Sloan, my best friend, he is in the skunk kate files.
I had a feeling there's a few things, a few odd things that David S isn't involved in. So,
yes. So I, I included him in the narrative and um towards the end and it's, it's, it's pretty funny. Um But for a while, uh David moved up to Arado for a couple of years. That's right.
And we had, we became friends through, basically, through Facebook. Um We both had interest in writing and in, in history and um I would come down to Key West and say, hey, you know, I'm Brad, let's, let's meet for coffee or whatever.
And um we, you know, this is like a long time ago, we sparked up a friendship. He moved up here and we were sitting at a bar.
Yeah, I know. And we, we were sitting in a bar and like, hey, let's, let's do a book together. What should we do. And Bloodline had just come out and like, hey, and let's do, uh let's do a location guide to Bloodline.
Best idea ever.
That's amazing because it was huge. But when it was out there and being filmed down here and then they renewed it for season two. So people were loving it and it gets so shines such a light on the keys.
Yes. And um
yeah, and it was uh it was, it, it, it is that book. There's the, the ran for three seasons. We um did, we did two volumes of it and that book is just the, and the, and the fans are rabid. People love that show. Still. That book still sells really well and it has been the gift that just keeps on giving. That's
awesome. David is good at those. And Brad, how do you, you make me think when you talk about that and you say bloodline comes along, you got stars in it
and we just talked about the diversity and just, just the range of history, the Keys offer. Is it hard? Does it matter? Do you, do you try to avoid because you could go down the rabbit hole and it's not a bad rabbit hole to go down,
but you could spend most of your days just tracking the history of celebrities, right? Hunter S Thompson and Hemingway and, and Tennessee Williams and presidents and Ted Williams and whoever it might be that spent time here is it, it, is it attractive to you to try to chase that stuff or you try to avoid that to kind of keep your eyes on some of the other more obscure history. How do you balance that out?
Well, from what I, from, you know, I, I am not so much into the new history. I'm, I, I much II, I look more at the old history. How far back
do you go? Like, what's your, do you have like sort of a date range that, that captivates you the most,
um, you know, possibly own to, you know, turn the turn the 19th century 39th century. So my, my feeling is that if I don't have a good base and understand
the issues that went on before I can't really have a good grasp on what's going on now in the last 50 years. So, without that base of knowledge and understanding how the pioneers started and how those families came and, you know, all those early industries, you know, sponging and cigars and, and wrecking
and all of it ties into the modern history in its own way. It does.
So many of them were building blocks for what, what we have today.
Exactly. These are the building blocks and, and, and if I don't have a good foundation, I'm gonna, I'm gonna be telling some sketchy, some sketchy stories. So I like to, you know, have that foundation nice and strong. So that's, you know, maybe in 10 years I will, you know, go more into the later stuff. But there's just so much,
there's so much to learn and so much to study and, you know, tell you the truth. The hardest part of my week, every week is figure out what to write in my next column. I
understand. I can understand that. Yes. If somebody would just assign me a topic every time, then it's much easier than trying to think of all the mandy stories are called grandpa stories. That's what they m ma combination of fact. So, Brad, when you're doing that, you've got all that history and then you come across somebody and from, from Key to Key West or even beyond
and they say I'm so and so curry or I'm so and so with the last name and it sparks up in, in your head. How many times do you find yourself knowing more about their lineage and their history than maybe they do? Does that happen a lot?
Um, it not infrequently there are I, I, you know, II, I know a lot more about some of the families than, than the families do. And, um,
and sometimes I, you know, it's really awkward to have to correct somebody about their grandparents
or tell them the actual truth that, that somebody's been lying to them for
generations. Yeah. So, so sometimes it gets a little awkward but I, you know, my wife will tell you I like to argue. So um I have no problem. Um I, I, you know, it's just these are the facts, you know, I'm sorry that this is what you have been told all your life. But this is
I, I can show you the documentation that this is what really happened. Well, that's the thing. I
always have citations and proof. You know, I mean, when somebody says, show me, you know, show your work, you have it. We don't do that. We can, I
do.
Well, there's a great, you know, the Alan Roda story of the Purple Isles is, is the perfect example of this. You know, everyone, a lot of people think that, you know, Alan Roda means the Purple Isles and that's just a, a grandpa's story that came out, you know, back in the sixties or early seventies. And um do the what? That's the only time I really get hate emails from locals.
You know, you don't know what you're talking about and blah, blah, blah. And I always say, tell you what, you know, you show me a chart or a map that says, I don't know how to before $1900 I'll give you $100 and that $100 is always in my pocket and then you
get crickets, they never respond once they uh
it's like here's the, here's the facts, here's the story
and you can talk all you want. It's just, I don't get wrapped up in that stuff. I just, you know, under the, under the next subject
and Brad. So, being specific, then you've, you've added so much value to the history of the keys by, by un uncovering or perfecting or correcting.
Give us something, one or two things since you've been here that you maybe was most labor intensive or that maybe you found to be different or uncovered that that wouldn't have been brought to light. Had you not been a part of this and doing what you do?
Well, let's, um, let's go to pirates. Uh Everyone loves to talk about pirates in the Florida Keys. And the historians know that there aren't, there were not really pirates in the Florida Keys, locals all say there's pirates in the Florida Keys. Um But one of my next book that I'm working on right now that should be coming out, you know, next two months, hopefully is all about Black Caesar
written about
him. Yeah.
Yes. So these are all, you know, and, and what, and you know what my column does is usually, it's me working out ideas and working out, working out the history. Um
Yeah. And um, Black Caesar is one of those stories that is so ingrained in Florida Keys history that it's become, you know, part of the Florida Key story and it is nothing but nonsense.
So like the stories go back, his, his legend goes back, you know, spans 400 years and I've uncovered five black Caesars. Um, and it's more of, more of a persona than it is a actual pirate because they like seven Lassies and, and, and flipper.
Yeah. So that's, that is what I've been doing for the last, like, two years is just kind of uncovering every Black Caesar document I can find and kind of debunking a and, and, and most of the book is, it's like three quarters of Black Caesar and then a quarter of legitimate pirate stories because there are some legitimate pirate stories
and it's basically just going through and, and debunking story after story after story. And this is, this is why that's not true. This is why that's not true. And it's tons of fun for me. I'm not sure how, how it will be received, but it's um it's just a lot of fun. I
think it sounds cool in this day and age. People love the debunking. I mean, you know, look how well Snopes has done in the past 20 years or however long that's been around people like, you know, fact versus fiction, myth versus truth, that type of stuff.
Yeah. And that'll be out when, when is the next book coming out?
Um I'm trying not to rush it. I know, I, I because I my um you know, I started my Facebook group 42 50 with Brad Bartel about 14, 15 months ago and you already have over 11,000 followers. Yes, it blossomed. It just really went crazy. And um because it was so popular, I decided to do my last book, which was Florida. Florida Key 50 with Brad Barelli volume one,
largely because with my column, you know, eight or 900 words is not a great length of time to really delve into something. And, and with the book, I can expand the story or, you know, if I have to do a four part, a four part, you know, story that's, you know, comes out during the course of a month, you know, I can tell a larger story, which is what volume one really is and volume two should be coming out.
I've had a couple of bookstores call me up and say, hey, people are coming in looking for volume two. Where is it? And uh and I'm trying not to rush it and it's, it's, uh it's getting really close. I'm hoping it to get it to the editor next month.
But uh right now every time I go through it, it just gets better and better. So I wanna make sure I don't, I don't push it out too fast and I wanna make sure it's where it's supposed to be. So by June or July, it'll definitely be out. Oh, terrific.
We'll let people know in the Keys Weekly when that's happening. And uh Brad, they say history repeats itself and you like going back like de Leon and, and so forth and and from there going way back in our history, what history continues to repeat itself in the Florida Keys. What do you see? That's even today in a technological era, that's still kind of the same trend.
People listening to gossip and taking it for truth. It's
true. It, it's getting worse. Probably social media has
amplified that. Yes. Um,
it's a great question and I'm trying to, you know, come up with something funny or something
because the Keys are good for that. I mean,
yeah, the Coconut Telegraph has been going on since the 18 hundreds. And um it's fun to look at some, look at some stories like there, there's a Great Black Caesar, the story that came out in 18 56.
And it's probably the very first account that I can find of someone actually talking about the leg the pirate story. And um
that is, is that same, it was written by a guy named Ned but who was, he's the man who brought Buffalo Bill Cody to life. Really? And um yeah, and as a, a navy as a midshipman in the navy, he was actually on Indian Key stationed in Indian Key during the second escalation of the seminal war 19 from like 18 35 to 1918 42.
He had some credibility if he was gonna make up a pirate story because he
was here.
Yes. But, but making up is the, is, is the key point there. I was with that. Yeah, he, like Hemingway liked to exaggerate. And so there's, you know, the, the cols of truth. Um,
but it's, it's the same, you know, it's, it's the same repeating of old stories. I think that's what I think that's my answer is kind of the gossip but repeating the stories that have long been told and, you know, not bothering to, to, um, to look into it, which is, you know, what I have, I, I have the time to do. That's, that's I made
that mainstream media
today is what you say. So it all on social media.
Yeah, just, you know, take a, take a, take a beat, take a step back, look into, you know, do a couple of research things and it's, you know, it's a lot of it becomes more clear as to why it's things that this gossip or these stories are being spread and what the actual story is and more, you know, nine times out of 10, the actual story is a lot more,
a lot more fun than, than the made up stuff. Good
point. Well, speaking of that, Brad Bartel, I've got some history I want to ask you about because this story is told through bars and,
and uh and lore throughout the Keys. I'm nervous about this story here. You are a history guy and you're supposed to be boring. And as I've mentioned before, you're exciting and people can tell now you're pretty electric and you love what you do. There's a story that you met your wife Michelle here in the Keys. And, uh, she, she walked into a restaurant, was looking for a job and Mr swab yourself, he sees her, you're blown away and you urge the manager to hire her.
She may or may not have been engaged at the time. This is all coming from, I did my research seriously and from there it is history. 11 years later, uh, you guys are happily married and, uh, and together how, how much of that is true.
I'll do you one better. Um It's true. I was working at a place called Bentley's and Amara and it was, it was about, uh, 3 30 in the afternoon by the time people started looking for, you know, coming in and apply for restaurant jobs and I was polishing silverware as is, you know, a favorite thing among servers to do. Yeah, side work, staring out the window in a, in a white Jetta pulled in the parking lot. It was pretty blonde, walked out and I did walk over to the manager. I said if she applies for a job hire her.
And, um, actually our, uh, our 14th year anniversary, um, is on the 26th.
Well, happy anniversary. I just had my 13th on April 10th.
We've been together since, yeah, we've been together for 18 years, 19 years
now. So, what did you say? What, how did you make this woman look your way and, and uh because I hear she's a hairdresser and I've seen your hair. So I, I'm a client of hers. I'm trying to figure this all out. What did, what did you say, Brad to get Michelle to uh to woo her away and, and, and make her your wife or she made you her husband.
We work together. So, you know, I'm, I'm an acquired taste often. I don't have a lot of,
I don't, I'm not smooth. I don't have a lot of game. I never had a lot of game with them. Um So it was just us working together and got to know each other and the cards were played, you know, the, it was written in the stars and, you know, we fell in love and are still
together. That's great. That's cool. Well, hey, next time Brad, I'll have you tell some more. Maybe just come with like, really? I think people would rather hear you tell these history stories than hear Mandy and I particularly me go on. But um, we're gonna have you on more often and so
maybe bring a couple more stories you're working on or what you have going on with history and we'll talk about that. Uh, for now, as I mentioned, you do a great job and people can see you on social media, given these lectures and you, uh you were, I know you were a professor and and taught part time down here and you obviously have a knack for that. But if they want to contact you, whether it be just to, to talk history, uh, to look into something, give you a tip or come to their school or their event or whatever it is to speak. What's the best way to reach out to you,
um, through my Facebook group or to his history of Brad Bartel, my website Brad Barelli dot com or just, you know, the good old phone call. 3053959889. I'm not very hard to find.
Um I think my phone, not through the paper itself. All my information in the paper in my bio on the paper. I'm super easy to find
Brad, you and I are the only two who put our cell phone in the paper. So I think mine, mine's everywhere on the green parrot bathroom wall by now. So, uh speaking of that, if you want to hear or read more of Brad Ellis work, uh uh I know we have
here on the Florida Keys Weekly Podcast, but if you want to see more of that go to Keys weekly dot com type in his name. You can see some archives there or just type in the word history. Yeah, he's there. He's all over the place. Brad. Appreciate all that you do for uh us in print and on digital. And now here on the podcast. It is a pleasure to have you join Mandy and I, and I appreciate you coming on and keep us posted on the next book,
Brad. I will, there'll probably be a column written about it. I would so, I would hope so.
Yeah, my pleasure. Anytime you guys want to talk, I'm always available. Uh This is a lot of fun and I really appreciate you guys having me
on. That's awesome. Thank you so much, Brad. Thanks for everything you do. Absolutely, Brad. Thank you listeners. Thank you again for tuning in. Catch us here again. If you want to hear more of this or go back and, and catch some other things that Brad said uh keys weekly dot com. We'll have that up as well and until then enjoy the show, enjoy others and uh Mandy and I, as we said, much appreciated, have a great week.
